Dune HD Base 2.0

This firmware packages consists of files which are distributed under different
license terms, in particular under Dune HD proprietary license or under any Open
Source License (namely GNU General Public License, GNU Lesser General Public
License or FreeBSD License). For further details see file "license.txt" (license.txt)
The source code of those files distributed as Open Source are available on written request
to info@dune-hd.com or can be downloaded here: http://files.dune-hd.com/firmware/gpl/dunehd_gpl_source_code.tgz

Dune HD grants the non-exclusive right
to personally use this firmware package which is delivered in object code
format only. Licensee shall only be entitled to make a copy exclusively reserved
for personal backup purposes (backup copy). Dune HD reserves all intellectual
property rights except as expressly granted herein. Without the prior written
approval of Dune HD and except to the extent as may be expressly authorised under
mandatory law, this firmware package in particular

- shall not be copied, distributed or otherwise made publicly available
- shall not be modified, disassembled, reverse engineered, decompiled or
otherwise "be opened" in whole or in part, and insofar shall not be copied,
distributed or otherwise made publicly available.

Changes since 110511_2007_beta:

* Bugfix: Weather application settings did not work in some cases.
* Bugfix: Specific DVD-Video discs could not be played correctly.
* Bugfix: NTSC/PAL detection could be handled wrongly during DVD-Video
playback.
* Bugfix: Wrong audio channel could be chosen when switching channels
during MPEG2-TS/IPTV playback.
* Bugfix: Playback of video streams from network could hang in specific
rare cases.
* Some interface languages updated.
* Some other improvements/fixes.

Changes since 110225_1222:

* Completely new graphical interface.
- New background image, new icons, more advanced graphics for all GUI
elements (glasses, dialogs, controls, OSD, etc).
- Animation effects.
- NOTE: it is recomended to use 50/60Hz video mode as the default
video mode in order to ensure smooth animation.
- NOTE: animation effects can be disabled in Setup / Appearance.
- Improved text look.
- The space between characters and the width of whitespace character
optimized.
- Ability to create and install custom GUI skins.
- More information: http://dune-hd.com/support/skins
- Ability to switch GUI skins on-the-fly.
- GUI skins can be switched via the setting "Setup / Appearance /
Skin", or via "B" RC button on the main screen (and also via "ZOOM"
RC button on any screen).
* New tab-based main menu interface.
- All items from the main menu are now grouped into the
following top-level folders:
- "Sources": locally attached storage devices, configured network
folders, and "Network Browser" function.
- "TV": TV services (when available).
- "Favorites": shortcuts to favorite items (previously
known as "items added to main screen").
- "Applications": all other applications and services.
- "Setup": player settings.
- By default, all top-level folders are now represented as "tabs" at the
top of the screen.
- In Setup / Appearance, the user can switch between the following
styles of the main menu:
- "Tabs": the new default menu style ("tabs" at the top of the
screen).
- "Folders": show all top-level folders as regular folders in
the main area.
- "Plain": do not group main screen items into folders (the
same behavior as in previous firmware versions).
* Added widget for showing weather and current date/time information.
- The widget is shown at the top right corner of the screen (in the main
menu only, not during playback).
- The widget can be configured or disabled via "Setup / Applications /
Widget".
- NOTE: When no information is available (e.g. when Internet connection
is not available), the widget shows Dune HD logo.
* Various other user interface improvements.
- Added more predefined icon-based view modes for folders: 3x2, 3x3,
4x2, view modes with right panel.
- "Extended list" view mode is renamed to "List with right panel".
- Added the ability to quickly switch between view modes by pressing "A"
RC button.
- Debug dump function (which was previously available via triple
press of "A" RC button) is now available via tripple press of
"PAUSE" RC button.
- "Add to favorites" function can be quickly called by "D" RC button.
- "Copy" and "Paste" functions can be quickly called by "B" and "C" RC
buttons.
- The help line at the bottom of the screen indicates currently
available shortcut RC buttons ("A", "B", "C", "D", "POP UP") and their
functions.
- When launching the playback, "ENTER" RC button now works as "PLAY" by
default, i.e. builds a playlist consisting of all items in the current
folder and starts the playback of the currently selected item.
Usually, this improves the conveniency when the folder contains
multiple items (e.g. photos, music files, series, links to Internet
radio stations, links to TV channels, etc). The old behavior (do not
build the playlist, play just the selected item) can be restored via
settings (see "Setup / Advanced / File Browser").
- The current folder path at the top of the screen is now always shown
as just single line (with scrolling when the path is too long).
- Bugfix: "TOP MENU" RC button did not work in some Setup screens.
* Added support for CUE-sheet playlist files.
- When playing an audio file, is there is an associated CUE-sheet file
(should have the same filename as the audio file, but with ".cue"
extension), the CUE-sheet file is automatically used.
- "PREV"/"NEXT" RC buttons allow to switch between tracks.
- The OSD menu ("POP UP MENU" RC button) allows to see the list of
tracks and switch to the desired track.
- When the playlist contains multiple audio files, CUE-sheet files are
also detected and used for each audio file (the detection is performed
when an audio file starts to play for the first time). The OSD menu
groups all tracks by the corresponding files.
- Also added support for built-in CUE-sheets in FLAC, APE and WavPack
files.
* Added support for chapters in MKV files.
- "PREV"/"NEXT" RC buttons allow to switch between chapters.
- The OSD menu ("POP UP MENU" RC button) allows to see the list of
chapters and switch to the desired chapter.
- When the playlist contains multiple MKV files, chapters are also
detected and used for each MKV file (the detection is performed when a
MKV file starts to play for the first time). The OSD menu groups all
chapters by the corresponding files.
* New version of DVD engine.
- The new version of the DVD engine adds the support for multiangle
feature and improves the support for DVD-Video discs with advanced
DVD-menu and interactive features.
- If needed, the old version of the DVD engine may be chosen via Setup /
Miscellaneous / System / DVD engine.
* Added settings for preferred languages of disc menu, audio track,
subtitles.
- See "Setup / Playback / Language".
- Supported for BD/DVD-Video discs/images and files.
- NOTE: The default value of these language settings is "English". So,
if there are several audio or subtitles tracks and the "English" one
is not the first one, it will be automatically chosen (instead of
choosing the first track, as it took place previously).
- Also added a new setting (see "Setup / Playback / Subtitles") which
allows to enable subtitles by default not only for files, but also for
DVD-Video discs/images.
* Various playback improvements.
- General improvements for playback of HTTP audio streams (such as
Internet radio stations).
- CD audio playback improvements: faster startup and gapless playback.
- Improvement: for autoframerate function, non-standard framerates
between 23.976Hz and 24Hz are now treated as 23.976Hz (rather than
24hz).
- Bugfix: Viewing photos from a UPnP source did not work (the problem
introduced in previous firmware versions).
- Bugfix: Unsupported REW (fast rewind) command for TS files was wrongly
handled as fast forward rather than ignored.
- Bugfix: Playlist shuffle function could use an already previously used
random sequence in some cases.
- Bugfix: MP3 files with very large embedded covers could not be played.
- Bugfix: MP3 files with specific ID3 tags could not be played.
- Bugfix: ".mts" files were wrongly handled as audio files.
- Bugfix: Pausing M4A files could cause playback stop in some cases.
- Bugfix: .M3U/.PLS playlist files with "UTF8 BOM" header could not be
played.
- Bugfix: specific TS files (such as specific broadcast recordings)
could be played wrongly or with pause/seek not working.
- Bugfix: specific MKV files could not be played.
* Improved handling of RC buttons during playback.
- "PREV" RC button now navigates through the history of the previously
played playlist items only in the shuffle playback mode and only after
normal transitions (selecting an item in the playlist and manually
jumping to it resets the history).
- "TOP MENU" RC button now allows to go to the main screen also from
file playback mode.
* Added new audio output configuration possibilites.
- The setting "Setup / Audio / Audio decoding mode" allows to specify
the number of channels (stereo, 5.1, 7.1), which should be output to
analog audio outputs and HDMI output.
* Improved output of DTS-CD audio streams.
- Removed 14-bit to 16-bit conversion, which is undesired in some cases.
- Added the new setting "Setup / Audio / DTS CD audio conversion", which
allows to revert back the old behavior (enable 14-bit to 16-bit
conversion) when needed.
* Added "SHOUTCast" and "RadioTime" applications (free access to thousands
of local and world-side Internet radio stations).
* Added "Russia.ru" application (free access to "Russia.ru" Internet video
service).
* Added new possibilities for UI customization and authors of
applications based on "dune_folder.txt" mechanism.
- Added new dune_folder.txt parameters:
- Animation:
- animation_enabled = yes|no (default is yes)
- Overall item layout:
- item_layout = center|left|right (default is center)
- Badge-based icons:
- paint_icon_badge_box = yes|no
- icon_badge_box_dx = N
- icon_badge_box_dy = N
- icon_badge_box_height = N
- icon_badge_box_width = N
- Selection frame visualization:
- icon_selection_box_dx = N
- icon_selection_box_dy = N
- icon_selection_box_height = N
- icon_selection_box_width = N
- Icon visualization:
- icon_margin_bottom = N
- icon_margin_left = N
- icon_margin_right = N
- icon_margin_top = N
- icon_sel_margin_bottom = N
- icon_sel_margin_left = N
- icon_sel_margin_right = N
- icon_sel_margin_top = N
- Caption visualization:
- item_caption_dy = N
- item_caption_sel_dy = N
- item_caption_width = N
- item_caption_wrap_enabled = yes|no (default is no)
- Item details visualization (in the right panel):
- zoom_detailed_icon = yes|no (default is no)
- paint_item_info_in_details = yes|no (default is yes)
- item_detailed_info = TEXT
- item_detailed_info_font_size = normal|small (default is normal)
- item_detailed_info_rel_y = N
- Marks visualization:
- mark_scale_factor = N.N
- Small icon type (for list view):
- folder_small_icon_name = {small_icon_name}
- item_small_icon_name = {small_icon_name}
- Here, {small_icon_name} can be:
- video_file|audio_file|image_file|folder|disc_folder
- Added a new kind of media_url: "http://audio_stream://...". Enables a
special handling of the HTTP URLs, which is often useful when playing
audio streams (such as Internet radio streams).
- Bugfix: relative paths did not work properly when used with virtual
items in dune_folder.txt.
- When the player communicates with an external application via
"dune_http://" protocol, the application now can determine various
information about the player (product id, firmware version, serial
number, current interface language) using "X-Dune-..." headers in HTTP
requests. Also, a specific "User-Agent" is now used in HTTP requests.
* Network setup improvements.
- Usability improvement: when submitting network settings, "Waiting for
IP address" popup window is shown and the system waits for the IP
address to be assigned.
- Bugfix: "Auto + manual DNS" network configuration mode could not work
properly in some cases.
* Improved output to the front panel display.
- Improvement: when playing content having no known duration (such as
Internet radio stream), the title of the played item is shown instead
of meaningless playback counter.
- Added support for displaying characters from some european languages.
* Added support for working with favorites without system storage.
- When the system storage is not attached, the list of favorites is
stored (without associated icons) in the internal flash memory (the
same memory as used for storing all player settings).
- NOTE: If some favorites are added when the system storage is not
attached, and after that the system storage is attached, the internal
flash memory still will be used to store the list of favorites.
* Various other improvements.
- Bugfix: adding shortcut (favorite) did not work when the filename
contained a specific character.
- Some previously missing characters added to fonts.
- Some interface languages added/updated.
- Some other improvements/fixes.

Changes since 101201_1626:

* Various playback improvements.
- Bugfix: Specific MP3 files were playing with distortions when played
during photo viewing.
- Bugfix: Specific AVI files with AC3 audio were playing without sound,
and no file with audio could be played afterwards.
- Bugfix: Specific AVI files with H.264 video were not playing, and no
other video file could be played afterwards.
- Improvement: unsupported non-LC AAC audio tracks in MKV are not shown
in the list of audiotracks to avoid confusing the user.
* Volume control improvements.
- Added a new setting "Audio / Volume control" with the following
possible values:
- "Off". Volume control is completely disabled. The volume level is
fixed at 100% (0dB) and the player does not perform any
modifications of the digital audio signal.
- "Best quality". The default setting. The user is allowed to control
the volume in the safe range till 0dB (ensuring no audio
distortions on all audio content). When needed for specific files,
it is also possible to temporarily overcome the 0dB limit by
pressing and holding "V+" RC button for several seconds (the
increase volume level takes effect only for the current playback
session and is automatically reset to 0dB when the playback session
finishes).
- "Allow overload". The setting corresponding to the behavior taking
place in previous firmware versions. The user is allowed to set the
volume to values greater than 0dB. Depending on played content,
this may lead to severe audio distortions and thus is not
recommended.
- Added a new setting "Audio / Volume indication" with the following
possible values:
- "Percents". The default setting. The volume level is shown as
[0..100%] (corresponding to [-48..0dB] range). When the volume
level is set to 100%, the player does not perform any modifications
of the digital audio signal. Overloaded volume level is shown as
(100..150%] (corresponding to (0..+24dB] range).
- "Decibels". The setting corresponding to the behavior taking place
in previous firmware versions. The volume level is shown in
decibels.
- Volume control for background audio during photo viewing is
implemented in the same way as for regular file playback.
- NOTE: As in previous firmware versions, the player can apply volume
control only to PCM audio signal (i.e. when playing PCM audio tracks
or audio tracks which are decoded by the player itself); when using
"bitstream" audio output mode and playing audio tracks supporting
bitstream output, the volume control does not take any affect. When
A/V receiver is used, it is recommended to control the volume using
the A/V receiver.
* Other OSD improvements.
- When performing time navigation using LEFT/RIGHT/UP/DOWN/P+/P- RC
buttons (in file/DVD playback mode), the OSD does not only show the
selected playback position, but also shows the offset from the current
playback position.
- Certain notification OSD elements, such as volume control and certain
information messages can now be quickly hidden by pressing any
non-relevant RC buttons (no need to wait for autohide timeout).
* Added new UI customization possibilities (for "dune_folder.txt"
applications).
- Added a possibility to load icons shown in the right panel of the
"extended list view" asynchronously. When this feature is enabled,
navigation in such folders becomes much faster.
- Syntax:
- async_icon_loading = yes
- Added "icon_archive" feature, allowing to download a collection of
icons/images from an HTTP server once when entering certain folder,
and cache it in the player (in System Storage), that allows to
significantly improve the performance.
- Syntax:
- icon_archive.{n}.name = {name}
- icon_archive.{n}.url = {HTTP-URL-to-TGZ-archive}
- icon_path = icon_archive://{name}/{file-path-in-archive}
- When a new version of the icon archive is deployed on the HTTP
server, a modified URL should be used for it, then the player will
automatically reload the icon archive next time when the user opens
the folder.
* Setup usability improvements.
- When the user tries to exit "Video" or "Network" setup screen with
unsaved changes, a warning dialog is shown. The user is asked to
either apply the changes, discard the chances, of cancel the action.
- When selecting WiFi network connection type, the WiFI settings dialog
is shown automatically.
* Added built-in functions for management of System Storage.
- New Setup page "Miscellaneous / System Storage" provides the following
functions:
- "Initialize System Storage": allows to initialize the system
storage if it is not configured yet. Two possibilities are
provided: create the system storage on an empty storage device (USB
flash drive, SD card, an already existing HDD partition), or
partition an empty HDD into system storage and user data
partitions. Usage instructions:
- The system lists all found empty 1GB+ storages.
- Select the desired storage.
- If the selected storage's capacity is less than 100GB, the
entire storage is initialized as the system storage.
- Otherwise, if the selected storage is 100GB+ storage device, it
is partitioned into two partitions, the first partition is
initialized as the system storage, and the second partition is
kept unformatted (to format it, select it in the file browser
and press ENTER).
- "Deinitialize System Storage": allows to deinitialize the system
storage if it is already configured.
- "Clear System Storage": deletes all data stored on the system
storage. This, in particular, includes Blu-ray cache, main screen
shortcuts, content of Internet Radio and IPTV folders.
- "Clear Blu-ray Cache": clears Blu-ray cache (also known as "Blu-ray
local storage").
* Improved "Reset Settings" function.
- The confirmation dialog includes the information that player reboot
will be performed.
- Added clearing of all user-related data stored by the player in System
Storage (including main screen shortcuts and cached icon archive
data). NOTE: the content of Internet Radio and IPTV folders is not
cleared automatically (since these folders may contain files important
for the user); if needed, these folders can be cleared manually.
* Various other improvements.
- The function of quick video mode choosing now provides feedback using
the LED on the front panel of the player:
- When the function is activated: the LED blinks once.
- When the user cancels the function: the LED blinks once.
- When a new video mode is chosen: the LED blinks 2 times.
- When the user confirms the new video mode: the LED blinks 3 times.
- Some interface languages added/updated.
- Some other improvements/fixes.
* Includes also all changes from 101201_1626.

Changes since 100828_0034:

- Added a possibility to adjust the vertical position of subtitles during
Blu-ray playback.
- Added a possibility to adjust the vertical position of PGS and VobSub
subtitles during file playback.
- Improved handling of PGS subtitles in MKV and TS files.
- Improved "Audio / HDMI audio = Disabled" setting, which should now work
more correctly with various HDMI equipment. Now, it only disables passing
audio through the HDMI, but does not force DVI mode with RGB colorspace
on the HDMI output any more.
- Added a new setting "Video / Advanced / Force DVI output", which allows
to force DVI mode on the HDMI video output. This allows to achieve player
behavior which took place previously when using "HDMI audio = Disabled"
setting. (Note, as previously, this does not affect Blu-ray playback.)
- Added a new setting "Video / Advanced / Output colorspace",
which allows to specify the desired colorspace on the HDMI output.
- Supported values:
- Auto (use BT.709 for HD video modes and BT.601 for SD video modes)
- BT.601.
- BT.709.
- RGB-Full.
- RGB-Limited.
- The default value is Auto.
- Note: does not affect Blu-ray playback (for Blu-ray playback, "Auto"
is always used).
- Note: in previous firmware versions, the actually used setting was
BT.601; if you think that you had a better picture quality during file
or DVD playback in previous firmware versions, you may try to set this
setting to BT.601 (see also the new setting "Video / Advanced /
Default decoder colorspace").
- Added a new setting "Video / Advanced / Default decoder colorspace",
which allows to specify the default colorspace which should be assumed
for files having no explicit indication of the colorspace actually used
when encoding these files.
- Supported values:
- Auto (use BT.709 for files using HD resolution and BT.601 for files
using SD resolution).
- BT.601.
- BT.709.
- The default value is Auto.
- Note: affects only file playback.
- Note: in previous firmware versions, the actually used setting was
BT.601; if you think that you had a better picture quality during file
playback in previous firmware versions, you may try to set this
setting to BT.601 (see also the new setting "Video / Advanced / Output
colorspace").
- Improved Audio CD playback startup speed.
- Added automatic clearing (when needed) of Blu-ray Local Storage after
firmware upgrade in order to prevent possible Blu-ray playback problems.
- Added a new setting "Misc / Playback / Save zoom settings", which allows
to remember the choosen zoom mode even after stopping playback and
switching off the player.
- Added a new setting "Misc / Playback / Show recording indicator", which
allows to enable on-screen indication (blinking red circle) during
recording of IPTV / Internet radio / DVB-T streams.
- Improved the firmware recovery procedure: the LED indicator on the front
panel is blinking during firmware recovery process.
- Improved handling of specific unsupported files (such as GMC-encoded
AVIs): information about this is reported to the user.
- Bugfix: very high-birate IPTV channels could be played with artefacts and
picture distortions (a problem introduced in firmware version
100630_2131_beta).
- Bugfix: specific MKV files could not be recognized and played at all.
- Bugfix: ".djvu" files wrongly considered as supported.
- Bugfix: creation of debug dumps did not work in specific cases (when the
current folder path contained whitespaces).
- Some interface languages added/updated.
- Some other improvements/fixes.

Changes since 100630_2131_beta:

Changes since 100413_1555:

- Much faster start/stop of playback of video and audio files, w/o video
output reinitialization.
- NOTE: If autoframerate feature is used, video output reinitialization
may still be performed.
- NOTE: Playback of DVD/Blu-ray discs/images still requires video output
reinitilization in any case.
- Added a possibility to record Internet radio stations (HTTP/MP3 and
HTTP/AAC).
- Recording of Internet radio works exactly the same way as recording of
IPTV: ensure there is a storage attached, and press PLAY RC button to
start/stop recording during playback.
- Each recording is saved into its own file inside "InetRadio_recordins"
folder in the main storage.
- Added a special support for watching (and also recording)
network/Internet video streams which use HTTP protocol and TS format,
with improved buffering approach.
- To start watching such a video stream, launch a special
"http://ts://......" URL in the player (e.g. using
dune_folder.txt/media_url).
- During watching, press PLAY to start/stop recording (ensure a storage
is attached).
- Each recording is saved into its own file inside "MTS_recordings"
folder in the main storage.
- Added a possibility to sort files in the file browser.
- Usage: press MENU, choose "Sorting", choose sorting criteria and
direction, press "OK".
- NOTE: Saving the sorting setting is not supported yet.
- Added support for APE ("monkey audio") audio files.
- Added support for OGG/Vorbis audio files.
- Added support for Vorbis audiotracks in MKV files.
- Added support for external OGG/Vorbis audiotracks.
- Added support for PGS subtitles in MKV files.
- Added support for VobSub subtitles in MKV files.
- Added support for WMA audiotracks in MKV files.
- Added support for correct playback of specific 120fps MKV files.
- Added support for external SSA/ASS subtitles (file extensions ".ssa",
".ass").
- Added support for playback of TS files with ".mod" and ".tos" extensions
(used by some models of digital camcoders).
- Added support for specific TS files which were previously unsupported
(audio-only files, files with certain information missing, etc).
- Added a new zoom preset for file playback: "fill screen" (convenient for
watching 4:3 broadcasts with nonlinear stretching to 16:9).
- Added support for BIG5 and GB2312 encodings (in all places -- subtitles,
playlists, etc).
- Added dune_folder.txt feature: a possibility to specify the initial
playback position in the playlist for media_url pointing to a playlist.
- Syntax:
- media_url = /path/to/playlist-file
- media_start_index = index
- NOTE: This feature is useful for implement series support in
movies-collection management solutions.
- Added dune_folder.txt feature: a possibility to specify scale factor not
only for the primary icon, but also for the selected icon.
- Syntax:
- icon_sel_scale_factor = ...
- NOTE: This feature allows to implement the "selected icon has bigger
size" effect w/o need to prepare two different icons.
- Added dune_folder.txt feature: a possibility to force "list" and
"extended list" view modes for a folder.
- Syntax:
- use_icon_view = list
- use_icon_view = exlist
- Added dune_folder.txt feature: a possibility to specify what to do when
media_url refers to a folder: open the folder for browsing, start
playback of folder content, or ask user.
- Syntax:
- media_action = browse|play|ask_user
- Added dune_folder.txt feature: support for showing "virtual" items on the
screen.
- The dune_folder.txt in a folder can define a list of virtual items,
which are shown in addition to the files/subfolders actually residing
in this folder (if any).
- Syntax ({N} is the index of the virtual item: 0, 1, 2, ...):
- item.{N}.caption = ...
- item.{N}.media_url = ...
- item.{N}.icon_path = ... (NOTE: HTTP links to images can be used)
- item.{N}.{...} = ... ({...} is any parameter affecting the look and
behavior of the media item)
- Added support for working with external catalogs of resources ("virtual
filesystems") in the file browser.
- When dune_folder.txt/media_url points to a HTTP URL using
"dune_http://..." syntax instead of the normal "http://..." syntax,
such a HTTP URL is handled by the player as a "virtual folder", which
can be opened and navigated similarly to how local and NFS/SMB folders
can be opened/navigated.
- The "dune_http" HTTP URL should return dune_folder.txt describing the
content of the virtual folder using the mechanism of "virtual items".
- Each virtual item can be either a reference to a particular media
resource, or a "dune_http" reference to a nested virtual subfolder.
- Extended support for VBR MP3 files (added duration detection and seek
possibilities).
- Extended the lists of supported encodings for EXT2/EXT3 and NFS (added
all encodings supported in other places).
- Improved detection and handling of files which have unsupported file
format or can not be opened.
- Now, when encountering such a file, the player shows a message for a
several seconds before skipping the file. Fixed some other bugs with
handling of unsupported file formats.
- Improved DHCP client behavior: when the player send a DHCP request, it
announces it as "Dune" (instead of using an empty name).
- Improved compatibility with some Blu-ray discs.
- Improved seek performance in specific MKV files.
- Improved LPCM output over HDMI when playing TS files (some issues fixed).
- Improved zoom handling for file and DVD playback: pressing CLEAR resets
zoom settings to the defaults.
- Improved online upgrade function: more robust deletion of temporarily
downloaded files.
- Improved antialiasing algorithm used for text rendering.
- Improved file browser responsiveness and performance in specific cases.
- Included the fix for the problem with media playback/reading pausing for
several seconds.
- Improved handling of low-bitrate audio (less than 32Khz) during file
playback (some issues fixed).
- Improved autoframerate: allow to switch to 23.976/24p from interlaced
video modes when 24/50/60 autoframerate mode is used).
- Improved Internet radio playback: implemented more robust handling of
HTTP connections.
- Improved component video output (prefering "SMPTE" standard instead of
"M2"; should fix the problems with bad colors when component video output
is chosen in Setup).
- Improved support for output of high quality PCM audio though digital
audio outputs (S/PDIF and HDMI):
- Relaxed software limitations on the sample rate (to the level allowed
by the hardware).
- Introduced a new setting allowing to limit maximum sample rate for
compatibility with particular S/PDIF cables and A/V receivers.
- NOTE: For compatibility with all S/PDIF cables and A/V receivers, the
limit is set to 48 Khz by default.
- Bugfix: in Blu-ray playback, 1921x1081 scaling was wrongly used, leading
to slightly decreased picture quality.
- Bugfix: huge BD ISO could not be played properly (problem at ~40 min).
- Bugfix: network folders of different types (e.g. SMB and NFS) and having
the same names did not work properly.
- Bugfix: some PCM WAV files were playing with a slight noise in the
beginning.
- Bugfix: opening SMB share using guest account could not work in some
cases.
- Bugfix: when reading/playing content from a SMB share, an error could
occur in some rare cases.
- Bugfix: default choosing of internal audiotrack in TS files could not
work (manual audio track switching could be required).
- Bugfix: external subtitles could be not available when starting file
playback in specific ways (e.g. via network browser).
- Bugfix: UTF16-encoded external subtitles could be handled wrongly in
specific cases.
- Bugfix: wrong information about audiocodec could be displayed when
playing ASF/WMA file in specific cases.
- Bugfix: AC3 audiotracks in TS files could be decoded wrongly in specific
cases.
- Bugfix: FIP button presses could cause duplicate actions in specific
cases.
- Bugfix: loading invalid/corrupted user-created icon files (via
dune_folder.txt) could be handled wrongly.
- Bugfix: during file playback, if specific zoom settings were used,
switching to the next file in the playlist could cause wrong zoom
settings/handling.
- Some menu languages added/updated.
- Various other minor fixes and improvements.

Changes since 100307_2100_beta:

NOTE: This version has very few differences (mostly bugfixes) from the
previously released 100307_2100_beta version. This firmware version is
considered to be the most stable and bug free version in comparison with
any previously released firmware versions, and thus is recommended to
everyone. New big features and further improvements will be included into
future beta versions.
- Some menu languages updated/improved.
- Minor improvements in the player boot procedure; popup dialog for
choosing menu interface language is now shown when booting the player for
the first time (when player settings are not initialized yet).
- Bugfix: white vertical line consisting could be visible on the right side
of the screen in some cases.
- Bugfix: switching to another item in the playlist could lead to playback
crash (e.g. when switching between IPTV channels).
- Bugfix: picture adjustments could be handled in a wrong way during file
playback when autoframerate was used.
- Bugfix: specific TS files could be handled wrongly.
- Bugfix: the player could hang when starting the upgrade process, if the
player was busy with some activity (e.g. torrent client running, access
to the player from network, etc). (Workaround was needed: before starting
the upgrade process, disable torrent client and disconnect the player
from network.)
- Bugfix: the player could hang after succesfull finishing of the upgrade
process (if Extra Applications were updated during the upgrade).
(Workaround was needed: reboot the player manually using power switch.)

Changes since 091229_1411_beta:

NOTE: This firmware version includes quite a lot of internal code changes,
and, despite a lot of preliminary testing performed, there are good chances
that some functions may not function correctly under specific
circumstances. The most probable areas where things may be broken are:
- File browser (working with network shares, "dune_folder.txt"
mechanism, and any other file browser features).
- File playback.
- DVD and BD playback (especially when autoframerate is switched on).
- USB WiFi.
- Improvements for autoframerate:
- Implemented autoframerate also for DVD-Video and Blu-ray content (in
addition to autoframerate previously supported for files only).
- Supported for both optical discs and disc images.
- For DVD-Video, supports switching between 50 and 59.94 framerates
(no support for switching to 23.976 on NTSC pulldown content).
- For Blu-ray, supports all framerates (including 24p).
- If a disc consists of multiple fragments with different framerates,
framerate switching is automatically performed also when switching
between disc fragments.
- Improvements for subtitles support:
- Added support for PGS (Blu-ray) subtitles in M2TS/TS files. It is now
possible to use Blu-ray subtitles not only playing full BD-images, but
also when playing individual M2TS files.
- Added support for external subtitles in SUB/IDX format.
- Added support for UTF-16 encoding in SRT and SUB (MicroDVD) external
subtitle files.
- Improvements for USB WiFi support:
- Upgraded WiFi driver for RALink RT2870/RT2770 chipsets to the latest
available version 2.3.0.0, and allowed the use of all USB WiFi devices
supported by this driver (66 USB-IDs in total).
- See here for more details on the
supported USB hardware.
- Improvements for working with network shares:
- Added a new function "Add to Main Screen" for SMB shares in SMB
browser. Allows to easily add a new network folder corresponding to a
SMB share to the main screen. NOTE: Supported for the SMB shares only,
not supported for other items in SMB browser (SMB workgroups, SMB
servers, or folders inside SMB shares).
- Implemented a better scanning for available SMB workgroups and hosts
in SMB browser. Now, there are more chances that SMB resources are
found immediately, w/o the need to wait or restart network components.
(This should fix the problems such as certain SMB workgroups sometimes
visible, and sometimes not visible.)
- In SMB browser, all printer shares are now excluded from the list of
SMB shares (previously, some printer shares could be shown).
- Added showing drive information (total/used/available space) in the
"Information" dialog for network shares (the network share should be
in the "connected" state).
- Added a possibility to explicitly "disconnect" (i.e. unmount) a
mounted NFS or SMB share. Press INFO on a connected network folder, or
on a connected SMB share in SMB browser, and then choose "Disconnect".
- Bugfix: Iw was impossible to access SMB shares on a SMB server after
deleting some files from another SMB share on the same SMB server.
- The Setup option "Fast SMB Access" (introduced in the previous beta
firmware versions) is now disabled by default (since some users
reports problems when using this options with some SMB servers).
- NOTE: When upgrading to this firmware version from one of two
previous beta firmware versions, the value of this option is kept.
If you experience any problems with SMB access from the player,
please manually disable this option.
- Improvements for bookmarks:
- Reenabled a simple support for bookmarks when using playlists (the
initial version of such a support introduced in 091211_1311_beta was
disabled in 091229_1411_beta, and now a more reasonable implementation
is provided):
- When starting playing a playlist (e.g. by presssing PLAY button on a
file in a folder containing several files), the bookmark is
checked/used for the initial file in the playlist.
- When stopping playing a playlist, the bookmark is saved for the
current file in the playlist (so, by pressing PLAY on this file, the
playback can be later resumed from the saved bookmark).
- When switching between files in the playlist, bookmarks are neither
checked/used nor saved (as in the previous firmware version).
- The Setup options for disabling autoresume for video/audio files
influence both individual files and playlists.
- NOTE: Full-fledged support for playlist bookmarks (remember
bookmark for the entire playlist) is still absent; will be
addressed in future firmware versions.
- Improvements for IPTV support:
- Added support for viewing the list of audiotracks and switching
between them when watching IPTV (multicast UDP) channels.
- Added online firmware check/upgrade function:
- A new Setup section "Miscellaneous / Firmware Upgrade" allows to
conveniently check for the presence of new firmware version directly
from the player, and, if a new version is available, automatically
download and install it (w/o the need to use a PC to download the
firmware upgrade file).
- Also, if the player is connected to Internet, the player periodically
automatically checks for the new firmware updates, and when one
becomes available, informs the user about it and proposes to
download/install it.
- System Storage or any other attached storage can be used as a
temporary location to download a firmware from Internet; if no
writable storage with enough free space is found, the user is prompted
to attach one.
- When downloading a firmware from Internet, progress is indicated, and
a possibility to stop/cancel the download is provided.
- Advanced users can fine-tune various online upgrade settings via Setup
menu: enable/disable checking for non-stable (beta) versions,
enable/disable automatic checking.
- "dune_folder.txt" mechanism improvements:
- Added support for "smb://...", "nfs://...", and "network_folder://..."
media_url values, allowing to reference media content on SMB and NFS
network shares.
- Syntax:
- "smb://[user[:password]@]host/share/path"
- "user" and "password" are optional.
- "host" can be IP-address, DNS-name, or SMB-name of SMB server.
- "share" is SMB share name.
- Example: "smb://10.0.0.1/MYSHARE/folder/file1.avi"
- "nfs://host[:/export-path]:/path"
- "host" can be IP-address or DNS-name of NFS server.
- "export-path" is optional; when omitted, the player tries to
automatically deduce it from the specified "path" (by
analyzing all NFS-exports of the NFS-server). For better
performance and correct working, it is recommended to always
explicitly specify "export-path".
- Example (w/o explicitly specified "export-path"):
"nfs://10.0.0.1:/MYSHARE/folder/file1.avi"
- Example (with explicitly specified "export-path"):
"nfs://10.0.0.1:/MYSHARE:/folder/file1.avi"
- "network_folder://network-folder-name/path"
- "network-folder-name" is the name of network folder
econfigured in the player.
- Example: "network_folder://MYSHARE/folder/file1.avi"
- So, it is now possible to use "dune_folder.txt" to organize links
(e.g. Media Collection Indexes) pointing not only to any locally
attached storage devices, but also to any network resources
accessible via NFS or SMB.
- Network URLs are supported for all kinds of content: regular media
files (video, audio, photo), DVD-images (VIDEO_TS, ISO), BD-Images
(BDMV, ISO).
- Such network URLs are also supported in playlist files (M3U, PLS).
- The network shares are automounted by the player on-the-fly as
needed; when using "smb://" and "nfs://" URLs, there is no need to
manually configure the corresponding network folders.
- When playing a playlist consisting of items pointing to different
network shares, the player automatically unmounts/mounts network
shares as needed (in particular, it correctly unmounts a SMB share
before accessing another SMB share pointing to the same SMB server,
in order to avoid the limitation that Linux kernel can not work
with multiple SMB shares of the same SMB server simultanesouly).
- Added the following new "dune_folder.txt" parameters:
- "system_files = {pattern1}[,{pattern2}...]".
- Allows to specify which files should be treated as system and
thus hidden (when "Hide system files = Yes" option is enabled in
Setup).
- Each "pattern" can be the exact name of file/folder, or a
pattern including wildcards ("*" means any sequence of
characters, "?" means any single character).
- "media_url_check = (yes|no)" (default is "no").
- Allows to specify whether the player should try to check if the
"media_url" is valid and points to an existing file when
painting the item corresponding to this media folder, and also
determine a suitable icon to show (e.g. video file, audio file);
if the "media_url" is not valid, the item is painted in the
"dimmed" way. Such a check may reduce browsing performance, so
it is now disabled by default, and this new parameter allows to
reenable it.
- Added support for specifying "dune_folder.txt" parameters which affect
not just the current folder, but also subfolders.
- This allows to provide custom look for the entire folder
hieararchies (e.g. all folders on a HDD) just by creating a single
"dune_folder.txt" file in the root of the folder hierarchy.
- Almost any "dune_folder.txt" parameter can now be prefixed in the
following way:
- "direct_children.{parameter} = {value}"
- "level2_children.{parameter} = {value}"
- "all_children.{parameter} = {value}"
- When "{value}" is a relative path to some file, the following
syntax can be used to specify how the relative path should be
resolved:
- "rel_path://{relative-path}": treat path relatively to each
particular subfolder (default).
- "cur_path://{relative-path}": treat path relatively to the
parent folder (i.e. the folder where "dune_folder.txt" file is
located).
- Other improvements and bugfixes:
- Improvement: Windows 7 Recycle Bin folder is considered to be system
file and is hidden by default.
- Minor improvement for the "Hard Disk" icon.
- Improved progress indication when preparing to play and building large
playlists.
- Bugfix: Audio could be absent when playing specific TS files.
- Bugfix: When accessing Dune from a Windows PC via SMB, "dir" command in
Windows shell could work wrongly (filename case sensitivity problem; now
Dune's SMB server treats all filenames w/o case sensitivity).
- Bugfix: Photo viewer could hang up in specific rare cases.
- Bugfix: Optical disc eject was wrongly allowed when running file read
test on a file located on the optical disc.
- Bugfix: JPEG images (assigned via dune_folder.txt) could be displayed
wrongly in the right panel of the file browser (when using "Extended
List" view mode).
- Bugfix: screensaver could become non-functioning after using photo
viewer.
- Added Thai characters into fonts (adds support for Thai language in
filenames and subtitles).
- Added more menu languages: Greek, Danish, Czech. Some other languages
updated/improved.

Changes since 091211_1311_beta:

- Bookmarks improvements:
- File bookmarks are disabled when playing playlists, they are used only
when playing individual files (press ENTER on a file).
- The setting "Miscellaneous / Playback / Autoresume video files" allows
to completely disable bookmarks for video files.
- The setting "Miscellaneous / Playback / Autoresume audio files" allows
to completely disable bookmarks for audio files.
- The setting "Miscellaneous / Playback / Autoresume DVD" allows to
completely disable bookmarks for DVD discs and DVD-folders/ISO-images.
- Added a support for tags in audio files (MP3, FLAC, WMA, M4A).
- When tags are detected, they are automatically shown for the currently
played file during music playback. The supports tags include: title,
artist, album, track, year, comment.
- The setting "Miscellaneous / Playback / Audio file tags" allows to
disable reading and showing the tags (could be helpful e.g. if it does
not work properly for some files).
- Both Unicode and 8-bit tags are supported. The setting "Miscellaneous
/ Encodings / MP3 tag encoding" allows to force the specified encoding
for tags in MP3 files.
- When music playback starts, a hint about INFO and MENU buttons is
displayed (INFO -- show details about the current track, MENU -- show the
playlist).
- Added full support for discrete power-off and power-on IR commands.
- IR hex codes:
- DISCRETE-POWER-ON: 00 BF 5F A0
- DISCRETE-POWER-OFF: 00 BF 5E A1
- The DISCRETE-POWER-ON IR command is handled exactly as POWER RC button
when the player is in the standby mode, and is ignored when the player
is turned on.
- The DISCRETE-POWER-OFF IR command is handled exactly as POWER RC
button when the player is turned on, and is ignored when the player is
in the standby mode.
- If the player is configured to perform full power-off instead of
entering software standby, the DISCRETE-POWER-OFF and
DISCRETE-POWER-ON commands perform full power-off and power-on.
- Added a possibility to easily format a non-initialized drive (e.g. HDD)
just by pressing ENTER of the drive item on the main screen.
- "dune_folder.txt": "background_order" parameter now supports the
following set of values (instead of "first" and "last" as took place in
the previous firmware version):
- "before_all": the same as "first" in the previous firmware version.
- "before_icons": the same as "last" in the previous firmware version.
- "after_all": a new option, allowing to paint the custom background
after everything else (including file icons).
- "dune_folder.txt": added a possibility to hide file icons (w/o using
dummy fully-transparent icon). Syntax:
- "paint_icons = no" (default is "yes").
- Added more menu languages: Hungarian, Polish. Some other languages
updated/improved.
- The configuration of built-in FTP server adjusted to allow "FXP"
transfers.
- Added support for playback of video files with ".trp" extension (no more
need to rename them).
- Improved the speed of startup of specific MKV files, which previously
could take too long to start (that could even be considered by the user
as hangup in some cases).
- Bugfix: playing a file with an unknown length (such as MP3 with VBR
bitrate) caused playback crash (this bug was introduced in the previous
beta firmware version).
- Bugfix: playing/reading files from SMB share could crash in some cases
(the bug introduced by SMB optimizations in the previous beta firmware
version) (plus some other SMB-related bugs fixed).
- Bugfix: returning to file browser (e.g. after playback) caused crash if
current folder had dune_folder.txt with custom background image.
- Bugfix: specific Blu-ray images could not be played in some cases.
- Bugfix: after switching to TrueHD audiotrack in MKV file, stuttering
could take place in specific cases.
- Bugfix: "dune_folder.txt" / "paint_captions = no" did not work properly
in some cases (when the filename was too long and scrolled, it was shown
despite this setting).

Changes since 091023_1444:

- Added more conveniency for working with subtitles and audiotracks during
file and DVD playback:
- Added the setting "Misc / Playback / Enable subtitles by default for
files" which allows to choose one of the following settings:
- "No" -- do not use subtitles by default.
- "Yes" -- always use subtitles by default if any subtitles exist
(internal or external).
- "Internal only" -- if internal subtitles exist, use them by
default.
- "External only" (default) -- if external subtitles exist, use them
by default.
- Added the setting "Misc / Playback / Default subtitles preference"
with choices "Internal" and "External" (default), which controls which
kind of subtitles have priority if "Enable subtitles by default for
files" is set to "Yes" and both internal and external subtitles exist.
- Added the setting "Misc / Playback / Quick toggling of single
subtitles" (enabled by default), which enables special behavior of
SUBTITLE RC button when there is only one subtitles track: instead of
showing the usual subtitles menu, the SUBTITLE RC button allows to
quickly toggle this single subtitles track (select / deselect it). To
enter the subtitles setup, press SUBTITLE and then SETUP.
- Added a new possibility to conveniently and quickly show/hide the
currently selected subtitles track (even if there are multiple
subtitles) just by pressing the RC button "D" (blue).
- When a subtitles track is selected, the "D" RC button toggles the
visibility of the currently selected subtitles.
- When selecting a subtitles track from the subtitles menu, the "D"
RC button allows to select the subtitles track but hide it
initially (until the "D" RC button is pressed during playback to
show the subtitles).
- Added the setting "Misc / Playback / "ENTER" closes subtitles/audio
menu" (enabled by default). When enabled, selecting a track from the
menu of available subtitles/audio tracks (by pressing "ENTER" RC
button, or also "D" RC button for subtitles), automatically closes the
menu (instead of keeping it shown).
- Added bookmarks functionality also for file playback (previously worked
only for DVD playback).
- Bookmarks work similarly to how they work for DVD playback: when
stopping playback of a file, the current position is remembered and
then automatically resumed when the file is played again; the bookmark
is automatically deleted when the file is played till the very end;
bookmarks are remembered for up to ~200 files.
- NOTE: you can press "0" (jump to 0%) to quickly start file playback
from the very beginning, if bookmark was used.
- NOTE: there is no yet ability to disable bookmarks or confirm bookmark
usage, possibility to review recent bookmarks, etc.
- NOTE: still no support for generic Blu-ray bookmarks (only standard
bookmarking possibilities provided by some Blu-ray discs on their own
are supported).
- Added zoom functionality for photo viewer.
- Instructions:
- Use P+/P- to zoom-in/zoom-out.
- Use arrows to scroll through the zoomed picture.
- Use ZOOM to toggle through "fit to screen", "pixel to pixel", and
"custom" zoom modes.
- NOTE: Any zoom action shows ZOOM information box, which is
automatically hidden after some period of user inactivity. Press
ENTER or RETURN to hide it immediately.
- NOTE: Any zoom action pauses the slideshow. To resume the
slideshow, press PLAY.
- NOTE: When working with photos having very high resolution (much
bigger than FullHD 1920x1080), photo viewer initially loads photos
with a reduced resolution (minimal resolution which is enough to
ensure excellent photo quality on FullHD display, in order to speedup
things); after zooming into the picture, photo viewer initially shows
the already loaded version of the picture (with reduced resolution),
and then automatically loads and shows the version of the picture with
full resolution in background (so it may take some seconds to show the
best quality photo in zoom mode).
- Added time search (go to HH:MM:SS) functionality also for file playback
and DVD playback (previously was provided only for bluray playback, while
for file/DVD playback it was only possible to use +/-10sec/1min/10min
navigation).
- Instructions:
- Press SEARCH, enter HH:MM:SS, then press ENTER.
- When entering HH:MM:SS, the following RC buttons are available:
ENTER, RETURN, CLEAR, LEFT, RIGHT.
- NOTE: the "Quick Play" feature is still available, the same way as
before: quickly press SEARCH, then PLAY.
- Added more font sizes for text subtitles (file playback) in addition to
"small" and "medium": "large" (+25%), "x-large" (+50%), "xx-large"
(+100%).
- NOTE: This feature is intended primarily for relatively small screens
(or for relatively big viewing distance).
- Added a possibility to switch between Internet Radio stations, IPTV
channels, or other streamable media (where time search is not supported)
via P+/P- buttons. Instructions:
- Launch the playlist with streamable media sources in the usual way,
then use P+/P- buttons instead or in addition to the usual NEXT/PREV
buttons.
- Various playback and file format compatibility improvements:
- Performance of network playback from SMB servers further improved
(effective data transfer rate is now up to 20% bigger, and may be even
comparable to NFS, so even playback from problematic SMB servers
should work better now).
- Bugfix: specific Bluray images could not be played properly.
- Bugfix: specific DVD-Video discs with MPEG audio streams could not be
played properly.
- Bugfix: specific DVD-Video discs could not be played properly.
- Bugfix: playing TS files in a loop (more than 40 repeats) could cause
playback crash or hangup.
- Bugfix: MKV and MP4/MOV files with multichannel AAC+SBR audiotracks
could not be played because of unsupported AAC+SBR audiotrack. Now,
such unsupported audiotrack is simply excluded from the list of
audiotracks and file playback is possible.
- General/miscellaneous improvements:
- Added more menu languages: Italian, Romanian, Spanish. Some other
languages updated/improved.
- Added a warning when the user attempts to choose non-recommended
settings in the "System" setup section.
- Improvement: FTP server and SMB server applications running on Dune
consume less processing power during playback now (their "nice" level
increased).
- Improvement: switching directly to the main menu in file browser (via
RC button STOP/REPEAT/TITLE/TOP-MENU) works slightly faster now.
- Change: "IPTV" and "Internet Radio" items are now always shown on the
main screen when they are enabled in the "Applications" setup section
(even if their configuration is missing). To remove these items from
the main creen, disable them in the setup.
- Bugfix: setting "HDMI audio" to "off" caused wrong colorspace on HDMI
video output (purple/absent/distorted picture).
- Bugfix: after playing a video/music file from UPnP server and then
returning to file browser, an empty folder content could be shown in
specific rare cases.
- Bugfix: initialization of System Storage during firmware update could
not work for partitionless USB flash drives.
- Various "dune_folder.txt" mechanism improvements:
- Added support for images files not only in Dune-specific AAI file
format, but also in BMP, PNG, JPG, and GIF formats.
- NOTE: For BMP and PNG formats (as well as AAI), transparancy and
alphachannel are supported.
- NOTE: The performance of reading images from various file formats
may differ, depending on the exact file format, image resolution,
and media source kind (e.g. local or network disk). In most cases,
AAI and BMP are the recommended formats having the best
performance. If you need a standard and widely used image file
format with tranparancy/alphachannel support and good performance
on Dune, use BMP.
- Added progress indication during loading of custom background image
when image loading takes a while (could take place e.g. when loading
FullHD 1920x1080 background from a network media source).
- Added a possibility to show just icons w/o captions (filenames) below
them. Syntax:
- "paint_captions = no" (default is "yes").
- Added a possibility to hide the "path box" (the box showing the path
to the current folder at the top of the screen). Syntax:
- "paint_path_box = no" (default is "yes").
- Added a possibility to hide the scrollbar. Syntax:
- "paint_scrollbar = no" (default is "yes").
- Added a possibility to hide the "help line" ("CONTROLS: ..." text at
the bottom of the screen). Syntax:
- "paint_help_line = no" (default is "yes").
- Added a possibility to hide the "icon selection box" (a frame around
an icon indicating that the icon is selected).
Syntax:
- "paint_icon_selection_box = no" (default is "yes").
- Added a possibility to not paint the shaded background for the
"content box" (the area listing icons). Syntax:
- "paint_content_box_background = no" (default is "yes").
- Added a possibility to alter the location and internal padding for the
"content box" (the area listing icons). Syntax:
- "content_box_x = ..." (>=0, -1 means default = auto).
- "content_box_y = ..." (>=0, -1 means default = auto).
- "content_box_width = ..." (>0, -1 means default = auto).
- "content_box_height = ..." (>0, -1 means default = auto).
- "content_box_padding_left = ..." (>=0, default = 20).
- "content_box_padding_top = ..." (>=0, default = 20).
- "content_box_padding_right = ..." (>=0, default = 20).
- "content_box_padding_bottom = ..." (>=0, default = 20).
- Added new options for altering the way custom background is painted.
Syntax:
- "background_order = first/last". Here:
- "first" means paint custom background before "path_box",
"content_box", and "help_line" (i.e. under these elements).
- "last" (default) means paint custom background after these
elements (i.e. over them).
- "optimize_full_screen_background = yes" (default is "no"). "yes" is
reasonable to specify in order to slightly improve the performance
in the following cases:
- Custom background image is full-screen (1920x1080) solid image
(w/o transparent pixels).
- "background_order = first".
- Added a possibility to paint a custom scrollbar using a user-defined
image file. Syntax:
- "scroll_path = {image-path}"
- "scroll_x = ..." (>=0, -1 means default = auto)
- "scroll_y = ..." (>=0, -1 means default = auto)
- "scroll_height = ..." (>0, -1 means default = auto)
- Added a possibility to paint custom "mark" icons (icons used when
marking files via SELECT RC button, e.g. to select items for the
playlist) using a user-defined image file. Syntax:
- "mark_path = {image-path}"
- "mark_dx = ..." (-960..960)
- "mark_dy = ..." (-540..540)

Changes since 090626_1828:

- Integrated a new version of Sigma Blu-ray SDK:
- This solves all currently known compatibility problems with new
Blu-ray discs.
- Added autoframerate feature (an initial version):
- A new setting added: "Setup / Video / Auto framerate" with possible
values "Disabled" (default), "50/60Hz" and "24/50/60Hz".
- Autoresolution is not yet supported, only autoframerate is supported.
- Supported only for file playback; no yet support for DVD playback and
Blu-ray playback.
- Supported only for HDMI 720p/1080i/1080p video modes.
- Source framerate detection is implemented for most of the supported
container formats and videocodecs (although it is not guaranteed to
work correctly with each particular file).
- 23.976 vs 24.0, 59.94 vs 60.0 are distinguished and handled correctly.
- When playing a playlist of files with different framerates, video
output is reconfigured before playback of each file in the playlist.
- The currently used video mode and video output framerate are reported
during playback in INFO OSD.
- Completely rewritten file browser engine:
- All existing user-visible functionality of the file browser is
preserved, but the internally used engine is almost completely
reworked to make it much more flexible and powerful. This allows allow
to introduce various additional functionality (such as browsing lists
of SMB/NFS shares, browsing UPnP resources, browsing content of
playlist files, browsing content of Audio CD discs, browsing content
of RAR and other archives, etc). The new egnine allows to implement
all additional functionality in a way consistent with already existing
functionality, reusing all advanced features and possibilities of the
file browser, such as:
- Convenient and fast navigation through the hierarchy of
folders/objects.
- Showing the path to the current folder/object in the title bar and
allowing to quickly navigate to any element of this path.
- Convenient and fast scrolling through large lists of items.
- Ability to customize the look of lists (e.g. switch between list
view and icon view, assign custom visualization using
dune_folder.txt where appropriate, etc).
- Ability to use the general cut/copy/paste (and delete/rename)
functions where appropriate.
- Ability to use the general possibility to mark multiple items and
play the marked items or perform some other operation on the marked
items.
- Ability to use the general possibility to generate a playlist from
the marked items (including recursive scanning of folders with
subfolders), where appropriate.
- Added several new features based on the new engine:
- Browser of content of M3U/PLS playlist files.
- Press "0" on a M3U/PLS file to open the file directly in the
file browser. Then you can e.g. mark some items of the playlist,
and launch playback of the marked items.
- Browser of SMB workgroups/server/shares (see details below).
- Browser of UPnP servers (see details below).
- Added Network Browser feature with support for SMB and UPnP servers:
- There is a new "Network Browser" item on the main screen, allowing to
conveniently browse media resources available in the local network
(w/o knowing their IP addresses and other technical parameters).
- The new item can be disabled via "Setup / Applications / Network
Browser / Show in main screen" setting.
- Currently, the network browser supports SMB and UPnP servers.
- SMB browser features:
- Choose "Network Browser / SMB" to see all accessible SMB workgroups,
SMB servers, and SMB shares.
- After you open an SMB share, you can work with its content just like
as with the content of manually registered SMB network folder (play
files, copy/delete/rename files, etc).
- By default, guest access to a SMB share is performed; if guest access
fails, you can enter user name and password to be used. Besides, user
name and password if desired can also be entered/modified via "Connect
as user" context menu action.
- Entered user names/passwords are persistently remembered in flash
memory, so you do not need to renter them each time when you reenter
the SMB share (even after player power off).
- Several SMB shares can be accessed simultanously; in particular, if
you want, you can copy/move files from one SMB share to another.
- Also added a new possibility for manually configurable network
folders: now, not only IP address or DNS name of the SMB server can be
specified, but also WINS (Windows) name of the SMB server.
- UPnP browser features:
- Choose "Network Browser / UPnP" to see all accessible UPnP servers.
- After you open a UPnP server, you can browse all media content
published by this server and play it.
- The provided funcionality is similar to the functionality available
when working with SMB/NFS shares. You can select any files and play
them, play the entire folders (with automatic playlist generation from
the folder and all its subfolders), mark multiple files/folders and
play them, etc.
- The currently implemention is has the following limitations (planned
to be addressed in future firmware versions):
- Viewing photo files from UPnP servers is not supported. You can
only play video and music files.
- Playback of DVD and Blu-ray folders and ISO images from UPnP
servers is not suppoorted. You can only play regular files (e.g.
TS, MKV, etc).
- The use of external subtitles and audiotracks is not supported.
You can only use internal subtitles and audiotracks.
- Playback of very high bitrate content is supported (may depend on a
particular UPnP server and network conditions). UPnP uses HTTP for
content playback, and HTTP playback has been optimized signficantly to
allow playback of very high bitrate content, such as TS and MKV files
with 40-50+ Mbit/s bitrate (see below for more details). In some
cases, when a file server can not ensure stutter-free playback via SMB
and NFS protocols (e.g. when a NAS with a slow CPU is used), UPnP can
be tried as a potentially more performant alternative.
- National characters in file names are supported (may depend on a
particular UPnP server).
- Note: testing with different UPnP servers have been performed, but
there are no guarantees that any UPnP server will work fully correctly
or work at all. The list of at least partially tested UPnP servers
includes:
- TwonkyMedia Manager/Server (http://www.twonkymedia.com/)
- TVersity (http://tversity.com/)
- Windows Media Player 11 on Windows XP
- Windows Media Player 11 on Windows Vista
- PS3 Media Server (http://code.google.com/p/ps3mediaserver/)
- PlayOn (http://www.themediamall.com/playon)
- uShare (http://ushare.geexbox.org/) on Linux
- FUPPES (http://fuppes.ulrich-voelkel.de/)
- Improved HTTP client:
- Significantly optimized HTTP playback performance. With fast enough
HTTP servers, all containers (MKV, TS, AVI. WMV, MP4/MOV) now support
smooth playback of very high bitrate content (up to 40-50 Mbit/s, even
when using the standard 100Mbit Ethernet network connection).
- Improved HTTP servers compatibility; some bugs fixed.
- Note: HTTP playback can be performed in two ways:
- Play some content from UPnP server (UPnP internally uses HTTP for
content playback).
- Put direct HTTP URLs pointing to some media content into playlist
files (M3U/PLS) or into dune_folder.txt (using "media_url").
- More convenient handling of audiotracks and subtitles:
- Added a new OSD GUI for audiotracks/subtitles selection during file
playback and DVD playback.
- Now, when pressing SUBTITLE or AUDIO button, OSD listing all
available audiotracks/subtitles is shown. You can quickly and
conveniently choose any desired audiotrack/subtitle (using UP and
DOWN buttons), w/o the need to toggle through all available
audiotracks/subtitles one-by-one. This is especially convenient
when a fnle has a large number of audiotracks/subtitles.
- Improved handling of external audiotracks.
- Now, when external audiotracks are present, the internal
audiotracks still remain available for choosing. All available
audiotracks, both internal and external, are now listed in the OSD
menu, and you can easily switch between all available internal and
external audiotracks; no more need to delete/rename files with
external audiotracks to enable the use of internal subtitles.
- Subtitles are not enabled by default for file playback any more.
- Now, as was requested by many users, if a file has internal or
external subtitles, they are not enabled by default. You can easily
enable them by pressing SUBTITLE button.
- Additional adjustments for text subtitles during file playback:
- Besides of adjusting vertical position of text subtitles, it is now
also possible to adjust the following parameters:
- Subtitles font color.
- Subtitles font size (choose between normal or smaller font).
- Subtitles delay (synchronization correction).
- All text subtitles adjustments are now available via a special "Setup"
item in the subtitles menu. You can also quickly show the subtitles
setup menu by pressing SUBTITLE, then SETUP. In the subtitles
adjustment menu, you can use the following RC buttons:
- UP / DOWN: Move subtitles up/down.
- LEFT / RIGHT: Change subtitles synchronization correction.
- P+ / P-: Increase/descrease subtitles font size.
- 1..6: Choose subtitles font color.
- Note: these new possibilities are provided only for text subtitles,
and only for file playback.
- File playback improvements:
- Added support for TrueHD audiotracks in MKV files.
- Added support for 120FPS AVI files.
- Improved handling of VobSub subtitles in MP4 files.
- Improved audio output through HDMI. Now, when playing stereo audio
files (or video files with stereo audiotracks), and PCM output through
HDMI is used, the player reports the proper number of PCM channels to
HDMI receiver (instead of always sending multichannel PCM). This
allows HDMI receiver to better handle stereo sound.
- Faster switching between audiotracks in WMV files.
- Bugfix: PCM audiotrack in MKV could start stuttering in specific rare
cases.
- Bugfix: Switching to FLAC audiostram in MKV could lead to no audio in
specific rare cases.
- Bugfix: Seek in MKV files could lead to no audio in specific rare
cases.
- Bugfix: WMAPro audio could be handled wrongly in some cases.
- Bugfix: External EAC3 audiotracks could be handled wrognly in some
cases when HDMI bitstreaming was performed.
- Bluray playback improvements:
- "P+" RC button allows to show/hide secondary video (PIP), when
supported by a Blu-ray disk (while "SELECT" RC button allows to do the
same for secondary audio).
- File browser improvements:
- Improved speed of opening folders with huge number of subfolders;
"dune_folder.txt" files for subfolders are checked/loaded only when
needed.
- Improved speed of launching playback and returning to file browser for
folders with huge number of files/subfolders.
- Added progress indication (right bottom corner of the screen) on
lengthy operations (such as opening a folder with huge number of
files).
- Playlist generation improvements:
- Support for very big generated playlists (10000+ items should be OK
now).
- Better detection of cyclic references between multiple playlist
files.
- Better reporting names of playlist items in case of errors.
- Bugfix: long path to the current folder (wrapped to several lines in
the title bar) could lead to wrong picture on the screen when "icon
view" mode was used.
- Added possibilities to access all locally attached drives from network:
- Previously, only a single locally attached drive (such as internal HDD
or USB HDD) could be accessed from network via SMB and FTP protocols.
- Now, all locally attached drives are accessible (including all
USB-attached drives, and also optical discs in all attached optical
drives).
- For each attached drive, there is a dedicated SMB share with a certain
name. The fixed "internal_hard_disk" SMB share does not exist any
more.
- When connecting via FTP, each attached drive is represented as a
top-level FTP-folder with a certain name.
- SMB shares and FTP folders corresponding to attached drives have the
following names:
- If the drive has volume label: {volume label}_{uuid}.
- If the drive does not have volume label: {default name}_{uuid},
where default name is something like "hard_disk", "usb_storage",
"usb_storage_2", etc.
- Volume label and UUID of each drive can be seen in "Information"
dialog for the drive (e.g. press "INFO" RC button on the drive item
in file browser).
- The user can manually assign any name to any drive by using
"storage_name = ..." syntax in "dune_folder.txt" file in the root
folder of the drive.
- Added new "dune_folder.txt" features:
- "media_url" can now contain not just relative paths, but also absolute
paths point to files on the same drive or other locally attached
drives (helpful for working with media collections stored on several
drives). Syntax:
- "media_url = /path/file". Refers to the file with absolute path
/path/file on the same drive.
- "media_url = storage_name://name/path/file". Refers to the file
with absolute path "/path/file" on the drive with the given storage
name; here, storage name is the same as used for FTP/SMB access
from network (automatically generated default name such as
"usb_storage_UUID", or explicitly assigned custom name -- see
below).
- "media_url = storage_label://label/path/file". Refers to the file
with absolute path "/path/file" on the drive with given volume
label. (Volume label can seen in Information dialog for the drive.)
- "media_url = storage_uuid://uuid/path/file". Refers to the file
with absolute path /path/file on the drive with with given UUID.
(UUID can seen in Information dialog for the drive.)
- Note: referencing files on other network drives is not yet
supported.
- "dune_folder.txt" in the root folder of a drive can be used to assign
a custom name/caption to the drive. Syntax:
- "storage_name = ...". Assigns a custom storage name to the drive.
This name is used for FTP and SMB access from network and for
referencing the files on the drive using "media_url". Unless
"storage_caption" is also explicitly set (see below), the custom
storage name is also used as the storage caption shown in the file
browser.
- "storage_caption = ...". Assigns a custom storage caption to the
drive, to show in file browser.